Joe Buck shared an adorable photo on Instagram of Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder reading Lucky Bastard to his daughters on a plane. Below the photo, read an awesome story about how Pearl Jam pick their artwork for their albums! Happy Thanksgiving!
Jeff Gorra wrote the following:
Ever wonder what it’s like to be the artist tapped to design a bands album cover or poster? Don Pendleton has worked with numerous bands such as Pearl Jam, Blink 182 and Flight of the Conchords, in making their highly sought after posters, stickers and t-shirts. He was also the creative mind behind Pearl Jam’s Lightning Bolt album art.
Pendleton recently wrote a feature on Artist Waves where he discussed the collaboration:
Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam was one of those people and he had purchased some paintings from me…he was a big supporter and that eventually developed into projects for his solo album and some Pearl Jam stuff.
With Lightning Bolt, that was a unique situation. Jeff Ament is an artist in his own right and he’s worked on so many of the bands accompanying art. His aesthetic became a big part of how the albums always looked. So this process was more collaborative where we shared a lot of ideas. It started very loose and developed over time since neither of us knew exactly what we wanted to do. After we worked together for a week, it became more clear what the vision was for each piece that would pair with a song on Lightning Bolt– to make each one unique and exploratory, but also to serve as a visual representation of each song and keep some sort of uniform artistic theme. Then there was some input from Ed (Vedder) and a designer named Joe Spix came in and worked with Jeff for a lot of the design details and layout.
When it comes to a poster or a sticker for a tour, the band gives me creative freedom. They trust artists with the direction and there are not too many rules. Some of those projects take a long time, sometimes I’ve got to work them out quickly. I did a poster for the Global Citizens concert that was the skyline of New York City. That took a long time because there were so many little pieces to it. A poster I did for a Cincinnati show in 2014 was done in one night. I sketched out the idea, designed the layout, then sat down at the computer and put it all together. After the designs are done, I send them off to their longtime merch manager (Chris Siglin, great guy) they produce the actual poster, sticker or T-Shirt. Fortunately, most of the bands I work with use really great printers with very high quality materials. The artwork is not just slapped on to a throw-away T-Shirt. It’s done very well. Chris has been doing this stuff a long time and puts a lot into how it’s produced.
Many of the bands I work with have such a supportive community around them. It’s overwhelming in a way to see how much acceptance they have for someone coming into a position of doing their merchandise. And a band like Pearl Jam has done so much for artists over the years with the opportunities they have given them — a platform and a voice and some visibility. They’re not bringing in artists and trying to get them to fit a mold; they’re allowing them to have their artwork seen by an audience that might not see it otherwise. They’ve helped a lot of artists develop and maintain careers by working with them. And that’s pretty awesome.
Click here to read Pendleton’s full Artist Waves feature, where he dives deeper into his process and explains how skateboarding has influenced his art.
Follow Jeff Gorra On Twitter Here:
jeffgorra@gmail
via ArtistWaves.com
